March 1st, 2012 | Posted by admin in Info - (Comments Off on F29 Wrap Up – 80+ Actions Around the Country and in Mexico)

Yesterday’s actions were an enormous success! ALEC has been brought out of the shadows and into the light and corporate power was challenged from coast to coast.

As an overview, the actions today varied from sit-ins and pickets to street theater and banner drops. There were many creative actions including a foreclosure on Citibank, a “Corporate Debutant Ball” in Salt Lake City, teach-ins in Norman, OK and Naples, FL, actions targeting Pfizer, the Koch Brothers and Bank of America in New York, and a delicious Ice Cream Bloc in Oakland. Three distribution centers of Wal-Mart were shut down in a coordinated southern California action, as well as the World Corporate Headquarters of Pfizer in Connecticut. Further ALEC corporations targeted included Monsanto in Washington D.C., AT&T in Kansas City, MO and Atlanta, an action at the BP trial in New Orleans, Bank of America in Charlotte, PNM in Alburqurque, Altria in Richmond, and Peabody Coal in St. Louis. Dozens of other cities took action as part of F29 including Denver, Minneapolis, Louisville, Winston-Salem, and many others. We are proud to say the tone of the actions today remained jubilant and focused even in the face of police repression.

Full details of the coordinated actions and a wrap-up video will be forthcoming. Please send additional videos to video@shutdownthecorporations.org and tag photos with #F29. Here is a gallery of photos from actions around the country:

Video of Actions in Portland:

Portland Action Lab would like to thank those that submitted material to the liveblog, as well as OPDXlive and others who helped to keep track of today’s successful actions. Special thanks to Adam Rothstein and the Portland Occupier for live blogging the actions throughout the day. We would also like to thank all the participants in each city in the United States and globally who came out to show solidarity and coordinated action against ALEC.

This is just the beginning. This movement will continue to grow and challenge both ALEC and corporate power. We will reclaim our voices and create a more just and sustainable future.

4:10 PM – It’s late in the day, but new protests are still starting! AT&T protest in Pasadena, CA; Bank of America and Chase Bank Protest in Olympia, WA; and a march through downtown Phoenix, AZ.

4:03 PM – Reports of riot police at march in Denver, with at least one arrest.

4:00 PM – Photo from New Orleans, where activists protested at the BP trial.

3:45 PM – Confrontation in Portland, as mounted police charge into crowd. The bloc refused to move, and so horses became dangerous, and had to retreat. Situation defused now. Interestingly, a representative from the US Department of Justice, in town for a hearing about police use of force, was on scene observing. Photos are below:

photo by Paul

photo by Paul

3:31 PM – Some actions going on now: Occupy Walmart in Stockton, CA; Occupy Peabody Coal, St. Louis, MO; Bank of America Protest, Las Cruces, NM; March in Norman, OK; and a Bank of America protest in Lima, OH. In other news, Long Island has foreclosed on Citibank.

3:22 PM – Reports that three Kansas City protesters were arrested for occupying an AT&T building.

3:18 PM – Three protesters have chained themselves to the Wells Fargo building in downtown Portland. Earlier, a “Regence Spokeperson” gave a statement saying the health care company is pulling out of ALEC. However, despite the professional looking letterhead he was armed with, there is some suspicion that this was a prank.

11:55 AM – Portland rally growing, despite the rain. Other actions set to start at noon PST include a Bank of America protest in Half Moon Bay, CA; Occupy Verizon, Charlottesville, VA; and another Walmart in Lakeland, FL.

11:48 AM – More photos from the stand-off in SoCal.

11:40 AM – Rising Tide activists prepping their banner under the Burnside Bridge in Portland, below. Activists from affinity group Peace House have entered AT&T store on Portland’s East Side, dressed as “Alec-busters.”

11:15 AM – Protesters in NYC have shut down the Bank of America Tower, with workers watching from the windows. Here are NYC police outside of a Bank of America branch:

11:06 AM – More photos from SoCal:

11:00 AM – New protests starting NOW: Wells Fargo protest in Bozeman, MT; March to Altria in Richmond, VA; March to Monsanto in Austin, TX; and Bank of America protest in Charlotte, NC. Stand off with police in SoCal continues, photo below:

10:06 AM – As the clock rounds ten in the morning, Pacific Time, Albuquerque and Santa Fe’s protest against PNM, the utility corporation in New Mexico, reaches it’s “peak usage period”. Sounds exciting. Another protest against G4S begins in Norman, Oklahoma.

10:01 AM – Report from Connecticut: “Eight arrests made outside Pfizer R&D facility in Groton, CT, after two hour march encircling campus. City and state police heavily followed the route of the march, and the main gate of the facility was closed from 7 am (EST) on. An electronic sign nearby instructed deliveries and visitors to go to alternate gate in anticipation of protest. Supposedly, the entire Groton city police department was called on duty to respond to 75 protesters.”

9:57 AM – Report from the SoCal Walmart occupation, that many police just arrived.

9:53 AM – In Arizona, private prison corporation G4S cut down their own fence, so that deportation buses could leave the property blockaded by protesters. The activists were taken in by police for ticketing, but then released and not arrested. Photos below:

9:47 AM – On Twitter, @occupyriverside reports that all targeted Walmart facilities [in California] have been shut down for the day.

9:38 AM – Reports that police at the Bank of America protest in NYC are getting aggressive, pushing back the crowd to create a space around the bank. At least one arrest. Here’s a photo of the protest:

9:29 AM – Occupy LA and Long Beach have shut down a Walmart distribution center.

9:08 AM – Other global events that should be starting up include: a Rally in Huntsville, AL; a Rally in Dayton, OH; a protest outside of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ; a Rally in Nashville, TN; a Rally in Buffalo, NY; a protest at Verizon in Albany, NY; a protest at Walmart in Peekskill, NY; a protest at AT&T in Atlanta, GA, and a Rally in Richmond, VA. Michael Levitin reports from Bryant Park, NYC: “It’s raining and cold at Bryant Park, across from the Bank of America tower, where hundreds are gathered, drums are banging, and where Matt Taibbi just held a public talk detailing the crimes and the bankrupt potential of the bank. We are preparing to march and shut it down.”

9:05 AM – Orlando has begun marching to Bank of America. Many police officers outside of Pfizer in NYC.

6:50 AM – Occupy LA and neighboring cities are shutting down a Walmart. Here are two feeds showing that action. One, and two. Occupy Austin is protesting Monsanto. Rallies have begun both in New York City and in Washington DC.

6:38 AM – According to events that have already been scheduled, at least ten protests have already kicked off this morning. We’ll bring you news of more events as we hear of them from the wire. To send us news and media of events in your city for the live blog, email liveblog@shutdownthecorporations.org.

January 2nd, 2012 | Posted by admin in Info - (Comments Off on National Call to Action)

Occupy Portland calls for a national day of non-violent direct action to reclaim our voices and challenge our society’s obsession with profit and greed by shutting down the corporations. We are rejecting a society that does not allow us control of our future. We will reclaim our ability to shape our world in a democratic, cooperative, just and sustainable direction.

We call on people to target corporations that are part of the American Legislative Exchange Council which is a prime example of the way corporations buy off legislators and craft legislation that serves the interests of corporations and not people. They used it to create the anti-labor legislation in Wisconsin and the racist bill SB 1070 in Arizona among so many others. They use ALEC to spread these corporate laws around the country. Read the full call to action here.

If your city or organization is participating please let us know by filling out this form! We can post contact information for your action so that people in your area can get involved! Already 70+ cities are planning actions. Please connect with a city near you and come out and join the actions on Wednesday!

This is the national website for the F29 Shut Down the Corporations day of action. Portland’s information is hosted on the Portland Action Lab website. In Portland the rally will begin at 11:30 at SW Ankeny and Waterfront Park and the march will leave at 1:00.

Join us! Start organizing in your city. Get your General Assembly to join, your organization to endorse or otherwise participate in this call to action. Any organization or affinity group interested in this action should join this call. We will be working to both support and coordinate the action with conference calls, outreach materials and trainings. Once you know you will be participating please fill out this form with info about your city or organization so that we can add the details to the website and help people plug in locally!

We would also encourage you to check out our section on organizing your action with a spokes council and affinity groups. This is one important and effective way to organize these types of actions. It also does so in a way that is consistent with our movement’s value to direct democracy, participatory decision making, and non-hierarchical structures. Of course there are many ways to do this, but we have had enormous success with this model in Portland. The direct action spokes council, the Portland Action Lab, which is organizing Portland’s action used this organizing model on N17 to shut down most of the major corporate banks in downtown Portland!